Many people groan at the mention of Blogs. And honestly, I can understand why. It’s just one of many over-hyped (and at times poorly utilized) technology tools. Spinning up a blog for students to work within is a fairly simple task so it’s easy to assume that, as long as the prompts are carefully crafted, the addition of this technology will help lead students to your intended goals and outcomes. Continue reading Low-stakes Assignments – High Gains

In this post I have a several resources on managing group work for both classroom and online instruction. While I’m not a fan of using technology simply for the sake of using something “cool”, the productivity value of collaborative documents can certainly make life easier for students completing their work. When it comes time to grade, these same technology tools can allow faculty to see a log of who contributed, how often each student communicated, or how much feedback and revision was provided by each student. (For those who prefer regular check-ins, technology tools provide a unique vantage point which allows faculty to address issues of group discord as they begin to crop up.) Continue reading Group Work

You may be familiar with the image below if you have attended one of my workshops. (In fact, you’re probably sick of seeing it by now!) Bill Ferriter posted this image to Flickr in July 2013. (If you’re on Flickr he’s a good one to follow: www.flickr.com/people/plugusin.) I use this image often to drive home the following: Do not focus on the name of a tool (Google Doc, Prezi, VoiceThread) but rather what you want to do (or what you want your students to do).